Data published by the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis) showed that seasonally adjusted retail sales rose 2% after a 4.6% decline in December. Economists had expected sales to increase by 1.8%. Compared to February 2020 (before the outbreak of the pandemic), sales increased by 4.1%. Meanwhile, in annual terms (excluding seasonal adjustments), retail sales increased by 10.3% after an increase by 0.8% in December. Consensus estimates suggested a 9.8% increase in sales.
Destatis reported that the year-on-year sales growth was partly due to partial lockdown in January 2021. Meanwhile, many consumers still prefer larger purchases, for example of furnishings, to December 2020 due to the temporary VAT reduction in the 2nd half of 2020.
The data also showed that food sales increased by 1.1% compared to December. Sales of supermarkets and hypermarkets increased by 0.5% compared to the previous month, but were 6.1% lower than in the same month of the previous year. A different picture can be seen in the retail trade with non-food products: real sales in January 2022 increased by 2.3% compared to the previous month and by 22.8% compared to the same month of the previous year, which is due to the low sales level in January 2021. The trade in textiles, clothing, footwear and leather goods recorded a real sales decline by 8.6% compared to the previous month. The Internet and mail order business recorded a slight decline in sales by 0.7% in January 2022 compared to the previous month. Compared to January 2021, sales decreased by 9.0%.